Grayson County TXGenWeb

Nick Ciaccio watches as a worker tears the roof off an old building atop Paw Paw Hill.
The building was once a notorious saloon then served as a grocery store with a factory
out back and eventually as a farm house.

OWNER SEES NO FUTURE FOR LAST CHANCE SALOON
By Irene Flaherty
Herald Staff Writer

The tinkling of an old piano mingled with sporadic laughter, the clinging of spurs on a wooden floor and the sound of a bottle tinkling whiskey into a glass could be heard just east of Denison up the winding Paw Paw Hill trail. It was a mixing place for the hardy nearly a hundred years ago - called The Last Chance Saloon.
In its heyday the wood framed building held many a good time for its patrons and many a headache followed. The old saloon generated rumors that lasted for years involving lost gold miners and gold trains - stage coaches, cowboys, Indians and robbers.
At one time people came from far and wide with picks and shovels to dig holes in the hillside in an attempt to find "millions in gold bars" stolen from a stage and buried somewhere by the Last Chance on Paw Paw. But no gold was ever found. Not even recent construction up the "suicide S curves" of the Paw Paw Hill road revealed any gold. Texas Department of Highways used doziers to cut out the curves and widen the roadway.
The Last Chance Saloon is now history. It's gone. There will be no historic markers - no history buffs wanting to save the building. Area residents have considered it an eyesore for some time.
"It was the first place the roughhousers stopped on the way to town and the last place they stopped on their way out." said Nick Ciacco, who lives near by. "From the people I talked with it had a pretty tough reputation."
It changed, however. After outliving its usefullness as a saloon, it was converted into a grocery store.
It was the place to buy gasoline, kerosene, groceries and food. Out back was a 30-foot deep well that was 10 feet wide.
"That's where most folks got their water when coming to town." Ciaccio said. "It had one of the city's new...a....and soap factory out back."
Some of the owners during it years as a grocery were Bill Stanford, the Cummings brothers and H.... Grubb's, Jim Gay's father-in-law once owned the store, according to Ciaccio.
The building survived its years as a grocery store, then in 1961 it was converted into a home by Marion Howard Underwood," Ciaccio said.
After the land owner left, the old "farm house" served various purposes. Highway 1-- moved near when it was straightened and they began to consider the structure to be an eyesore.
Nick and Letha Ciaccio purchased the property some time ago and are now tearing down the old building.
"We uncovered a sign the other day that said Grubbs Grocery, but we can't find the old Last Chance Saloon sign," he said.
Ciaccio said he found a lot of little things indicating the stories were true and talked to the former owner. He recalled some of the history himself.
"I lived right nearby when it was a store and remember buying candy there." he said.
"Bill said it didn't say Last Chance Saloon, just Last Chance. From my childhood I remember our farm joining the old place from the north and east side. We lived on East Walker. I walked up there and got two pieces of candy for a penny," Ciaccio said.
The address was called the 1-00 block East Main Street. "But that really wasn't it." said Ciaccio. It was really a little farther out than its first address."
Ciaccio said Stanford said he met his wife while sitting on the front porch of the old store. She lived across the street and he watched her as she walked out the door and into town. He took a real shine to her and finally got enough nerve to court her," Ciaccio said.
"Now we're tearing it down. We want to make the place look nice there like a park than anything else. The grandkids can enjoy it." Ciaccio said.